The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for monitoring and diagnosing commercial refrigeration systems. In particular, monitoring and diagnostic systems that sample and analyze the energy consumption signature of refrigeration system components are described.
Commercial refrigeration systems are widely used in supermarkets, restaurants and retail outlets. These systems consume large amounts of electricity at substantial cost. In addition, failures of these systems can lead to product and financial loss. Examination of the energy consumption of the individual components of a commercial refrigeration system can determine if the system is operating efficiently and if one or more components of the system is likely to fail. Proper examination of the energy consumption includes transient and steady state voltage, transient and steady state current and the environmental conditions that system is operating in. This invention is the design of a system to capture and record information necessary to make a proper examination of commercial refrigeration energy consumption.
Known systems and methods are not entirely satisfactory for the range of applications in which they are employed. For example, maintenance of refrigeration systems has historically been performed using some combination of scheduled maintenance and as-needed servicing. Scheduled maintenance, while important and proven to save money, is typically based on the expected wear and lifetime of serviced components and usually does not account for potential defective parts or unusual wear situations. These conditions might lead to a premature failure prior to scheduled maintenance. Furthermore, inspections during scheduled maintenance may not be able to detect a looming failure where the equipment looks visibly intact. Conversely, as-needed service is inherently reactive in nature, repairing equipment that has already suffered failure. Failed equipment potentially results in lost revenue to the equipment owners.
Thus, there exists a need for systems and methods for monitoring and diagnosing refrigeration equipment that improve upon and advance the design of known systems and methods. Examples of new and useful systems and methods relevant to the needs existing in the field are discussed below.